The San Jose Sharks came alive a little bit too late Saturday night.
With the Sharks looking listless for most of the first two periods and trailing the Columbus Blue Jackets by two goals, defenseman Henry Thrun scored at the 11:42 mark of the third period to give his team a badly needed spark.
But the Sharks could not find the equalizer as Columbus goalie Daniil Tarasov made 39 saves to help hand San Jose a 4-2 win on Saturday at Nationwide Arena.
After the Sharks pulled goalie Magnus Chrona for the extra attacker, looking to tie the game, Alex Nylander scored an empty net goal with 1:05 left in regulation time to seal the victory.
Chrona, making his fifth straight start for the Sharks with Mackenzie Blackwood still on injured reserve, finished with xx saves as San Jose lost for the 12th time in 13 games.
The Sharks were down 2-0 in the second period when Fabian Zetterlund scored his 18th of the season at the 11:48 mark to cut the Blue Jackets lead to one.
But Johnny Gaudreau scored the eventual game-winner just 3:15 later, collecting a loose puck off the end boards and beat Chrona to give Columbus its two-goal lead back.
The Blue Jackets have now beaten the Sharks in five of their last six meeting dating back to the start of the 2021-2022 season.
Nylander and Gaudreau each had three points and linemate Boone Jenner had a goal and an assist in the win.
The Sharks lost 4-3 to the Blue Jackets on Feb. 17 in San Jose, as Jenner scored with 13 seconds left in the third period to put Columbus ahead to stay.
The loss was the first of nine straight for the Sharks, who entered Saturday in last place in the NHL’s overall standings. They play the 31st-place team, the Chicago Blackhawks, on Sunday in the fourth game of a five-game road trip that wraps up Tuesday against the Nashville Predators.
Chrona entered Saturday with a 1-3-1 record and a .897 save percentage in five games this month. He started the first two games of this road trip, losses to the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins, in which he stopped 63 of 71 shots for a .887 save percentage.
INJURY UPDATE: Defenseman Jan Rutta and forward Mike Hoffman, both injured, sat out another game Saturday. Rutta has missed four straight games with a lower-body injury and it’s unclear if he’ll be available to play Sunday in Chicago or Tuesday in Nashville. Hoffman (mouth injury) missed his third straight game.
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WELCOME BACK: Jacob MacDonald returned to San Jose’s lineup after he was too ill to play Thursday, leaving the Sharks with five defensemen. MacDonald was paired with Kyle Burroughs to start Saturday’s game.
With MacDonald back in the lineup, the Sharks dressed 12 forwards instead of 13 and Givani Smith was scratched from the lineup.